Vlasic Haunts the Chargers : Pro football: Kansas City Chiefs use Chargers reject to win, 20-17. The Chargers fall to 3-11.

The Good News: The Chargers will not finish 6-10 for a fourth consecutive season.

The Bad News: Too bad.

The Chargers (3-11) worked overtime Sunday to clinch a different, yet worse finish in 1991 with a 20-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium before 73,330 fans.

The Chargers, who are 6-21 in games decided by seven or fewer points during Coach Dan Henning’s three-year tenure, will close out the regular season with Miami and Denver in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Chiefs (9-5) are on their way to the playoffs. Quarterback Mark Vlasic, a Chargers reject, relieved starter Steve DeBerg and rallied his team from a 14-point halftime deficit to guarantee Kansas City a playoff berth for the second consecutive year.

The Chargers left Vlasic, 2-1 as a starter in San Diego, unprotected in Plan B free agency last season. The Chiefs signed him, and Vlasic came on to complete 12 of 18 passes for 150 yards against the Chargers, including a 16-yard touchdown pass to running back Harvey Williams in the fourth quarter.

“It’s like in high school when you get cut off the varsity basketball team,” said Chargers nose tackle Joe Phillips, “and your girlfriend leaves you for the guy they cut you for.”

The Chiefs were on their way to absorbing a devastating defeat until Coach Marty Schottenheimer handed the ball to Vlasic. The Chiefs were fighting for a playoff invitation, they knew their season-ending assignments against the 49ers and the Raiders were on the road, and they were falling on their face masks.

After the Chargers ran off 11:52 in moving 80 yards in 18 plays for their longest drive of the season, they took a 7-0 lead on quarterback John Friesz’s six-yard pass to Nate Lewis. Moments later they were cruising toward an upset victory with a 14-0 lead after DeBerg was pressured by Phillips into throwing a misguided pass, which was intercepted by cornerback Donald Frank and returned 71 yards for a touchdown.

Stop the presses: The last time the Chargers defense returned an interception for a touchdown was Sept. 18, 1988 when Keith Browner went 55 yards against Seattle.

The Chargers were feeling so good about the proceedings they handed the ball to rookie running back Eric Bieniemy for the first time this season.

DeBerg, meanwhile, continued to self-destruct. After moving the Chiefs into field-goal range for Nick Lowery in the closing seconds of the first half, he threw a pass directly to Darren Carrington. Carrington, however, is a Charger, and his interception sent DeBerg to the bench.

Vlasic put the Chiefs in position to employ Lowery on his initial drive in the third quarter, and Lowery was good from 29 yards with his 19th consecutive field goal.

The Chargers were still in control, 14-3, but then the game took a dramatic turn. On first and 10 from his 33, Friesz faded back to pass and then came under pressure up the middle.

“There was some miscommunication between Rod Bernstine and I,” Friesz said. “He thought he was in blocking and I thought he was in the flat, and when I felt the pressure on, I started to throw it at his feet.

“I felt like it was going to be intentional grounding because I really couldn’t get it to him, so I started to pull it back.”

As Friesz turned his body and attempted to slow his release, he was hit hard and the ball came free. Linebacker Derrick Thomas tracked down the bouncing ball at the one-yard line and took it into the end zone. The referee stuck his arms in the air signaling a touchdown and the fans went wild.

“As soon as they ruled it a touchdown I ran to the referee,” Friesz said, “and shouted some expletives at him and said I was throwing it at Rod Bernstine and it wasn’t a fumble.”

Umpire Dennis Riggs told referee Gordon McCarter the same thing, and McCarter announced to the crowd that Friesz had passed the ball, it had hit an ineligible receiver (tackle Leo Goeas) and the Chargers would suffer a loss of a down.

And then the play was subjected to instant replay. League guidelines mandate that replay officials are obligated to render their decision within two minutes, but Coach Dan Henning said it took seven.

“The call was made on the field that it was an incomplete forward pass that had hit an ineligible receiver,” Henning said. “To over turn that, it’s got to be conclusive, and if it takes seven minutes, it’s sure not conclusive.

“This is the worst, the very worst . . . I thought the game was disgracefully officiated.”

Said Bob Hyde, the instant replay communicator: “The two-minute time didn’t actually start until we could determine what the call was on the field. The two-minute clock did not start at the normal time.”

After the delay, the officials announced that Friesz had not fumbled, and no, he had not thrown a forward pass to an ineligible receiver. He had thrown the ball behind him, making it a lateral, and the opposition cannot advance a lateral, but the opposition gains possession where it recovers the lateral.

Thomas took possession of the bouncing ball at the Chargers’ one-yard line, and so the Chiefs’ offense took the field and running back Barry Word dove in for the score.

“I don’t think there’s any question that it was a major play,” Schottenheimer said.

The Chargers never recovered. They advanced to the Chiefs’ 32 on the following possession, but Friesz’s pass for Kitrick Taylor was intercepted by Jayice Pearson. They moved the Chiefs’ 30-yard line later in the final quarter, but kicker John Carney was wide left with his 47-yard field-goal attempt.

“It drifted left; I hit it well,” Carney said. “I imagine if there had been no wind it would have gone through.”

After the Chiefs took a 17-14 lead with three minutes remaining in the game on Vlasic’s touchdown pass to Williams, the Chargers advanced to the Kansas City 10 yard line with 15 seconds to play, no time outs remaining and third down.

“We had just tried for the end zone,” Henning said. “We had just taken two shots and we didn’t want to get into a situation where we might not be able to get the field-goal team onto the field.”

So instead of trying to win the game with one more pass into the end zone, the Chargers elected to call on Carney to kick a 27-yard field goal to tie the game.

A pair of Bryan Barker punts in overtime kept the Chargers pinned deep. The second kick, saved from going into the end zone at the Chargers’ one-yard line by Todd McNair and Charles Washington, was the difference.

The Chargers were forced eventually to kick from the one, and John Kidd’s 41-yard punt was returned by Troy Stradford 12 yards. Word gained a yard, and then broke through the defense for 28 yards to the Charger one-yard line. The Chiefs called timeout, then brought on Lowery to end the game with an 18-yard field goal 11:26 into overtime.

“We have to win these type of games,” said Word, who was starting in place of an injured Christian Okoye (knee). “You just have to find a way to win.”

The Chargers continue to search for new ways to lose. They tied a club record with 14 penalties, blew a 14-0 lead and helped make a hero out of a quarterback they didn’t want.

“To a man, each of the Chiefs that came up to us after the game said, ‘You guys have a heckuva football team,’ ” said Chargers linebacker Gary Plummer. “We had to fight our butts off to win, and that gives you something to hang your hat on. But now, it’s getting a little old; we need to get past that point of just giving people a good scare and get some victories.”